Opinion: Political views cannot drive the actions of law enforcement

by Boris Epshteyn, Chief Political Analyst

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EDITOR'S NOTE: Boris Epshteyn formerly served as a Senior Advisor to the Trump Campaign and served in the White House as Special Assistant to The President and Assistant Communications Director for Surrogate Operations.

WASHINGTON (Sinclair Broadcast Group) - Fidelity, bravery, integrity.

That is the motto of the FBI.

These days it is that integrity which is being called into question.

Recent reports have surfaced that FBI agent Peter Strzok was removed from the office of special counsel Robert Mueller. This occurred because of text messages agent Strzok sent that were critical of President Trump.

The troubling thing is that this was not some low or mid-level staffer. Strzok was the number two official in the FBI’s counterintelligence division. He oversaw the investigation into Hillary Clinton’s email server. He was deeply involved in the investigation of meddling in the 2016 elections. This included being present for the FBI interview with former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn.

Here is one other vital piece of information: Peter Strzok was reportedly responsible for softening language in former FBI Director James Comey’s statement which described Hillary Clinton’s email activities. This change was from “grossly negligent” to a softer “extremely careless.”

What does all this mean? What’s certain, is it continues to damage the FBI’s credibility.

Current FBI Director Christopher Wray said during a congressional hearing that he will take appropriate action once the inspector general of the Justice Department completes his probe into the FBI.

Here is the bottom line: our brave men and women of law enforcement have to be allowed to do their jobs without constant second guessing. Having said that, Americans, including the president, have to be confident that they are not being targeted or mistreated because of political leanings of those enforcing our laws.